Looks like “hookup culture” rom-coms are the new indie rom-coms (which are the new classic rom-coms).
In the upcoming Two Night Stand a formerly-engaged young woman (Analeigh Tipton) who is apparently pathetically reeling in her utterly solitary existence, emotionally and physically mooching off of her friends decides to take matters into her own vagina and have a one night stand. With someone she met through the InTeRnEt. No strings attached, just a quick one-off thing and then bam, back to life as she knows it. BUT LIFE HAS OTHER PLANS FOR HER. Enter lovable goofball Miles Teller.
I am unsure how to feel about this. I’m not personally interested in seeing this movie, but it’s still oddly jarring. The tag lines—”WALK OF SHAME” and “STRANGERS HOOK UP”—are picked out of hip twenty-something lexicon, which is fine because that’s exactly who the target audience is. This is supposed to be our story, young people. At the same time, it kind of feels like a bit much. The premise might be based on hooking up, but it’s still about a young woman who feels invalidated because she’s “nobody’s no one.” It still follows all the tenets of a rom-com, and it’s just another installment of the vaguely recent “We’re aware of casual sex, but it’s not for us” Hollywood trope.
But who knows? Maybe right after she asks, “What if we try again?” Miles Teller’s character asks back, “Really?” and she just says “NOPE” and takes his coffee table, smashes the window, and sleds down the pile of snow, never to be seen again.
